As Josie arrived at work, she winced as the sunrise pierced a space between two trees and shone directly into her eyes as she got out of her car.
The overnight watch commander was smoking near the back door of the station. She’d never understood why the LAPD called the overnight or graveyard shift the morning watch. Like so many other odd peculiarities within the department, she accepted the idiosyncrasy because it didn’t really matter.
Before she entered the station, the WC stopped her.
“You’re Price, aren’t you?”
She came to a halt and stood straighter. “Yes, sir.”
“Just a head’s up. Earlier, I received a call from RHD, and you and your partner are going to assist them on a case they’re handling.”
She nodded, as though she didn’t know anything about their assignment. “Yes, sir. I understand.”
As the door was closing behind her, she heard the lieutenant say, “Bender, come here. I need to talk to you.”
Josie climbed the stairs, changed into her uniform, then went to roll call and took her position in the front row.
She was the only one there, so she spent her time reviewing crime maps the previous watches had left on the tables.
Other officers began to filter into the room. There were ten more cops in all.
Two minutes before the scheduled start, her partner stood at the entrance to the roll call room. “Price! Hat and books.”
Everyone said, “Ohhhh,” like she was in big trouble.
If she hadn’t known why she was being called out, she would have been a nervous wreck. In the academy, if you were summoned out of class and were told to bring your hat and books, it meant you were going to be fired.
But she knew she was being called upon so she and Bender could meet with Ferrari to go question Chloe Conrad.
Inside, she resented that he’d grandstanded in front of her co-workers, implying she was in trouble. But it didn’t surprise her.
“Follow me,” he said, bounding down the stairs to the first floor.
The RHD detective was talking to a Devonshire investigator outside the squad room. He wrapped up his conversation and turned his attention to her and Bender.
“Hey, guys. I appreciate your help with this.” He looked at her. “I want to thank you for taking the initiative to call me and let me know what Chloe related to you.”
Her partner stared at her in confusion. “What did the girl tell you…and when?”
Ferrari spoke. “Apparently, after you’d left for the day, she disclosed to Officer Price a hypothetical situation where she asked about the punishment of someone who had been blackmailed into doing a crime.”
“I was there when the girl met up with her mother. I never heard, nor was I advised there was any talk of blackmail.” He glared at her.
She didn’t say a word but lifted her chin slightly.
“What matters is what she said. Not when she said it,” Ferrari pacified.
Bender opened his mouth as if to speak. Then closed it.
“I’m taking you guys with me so I can re-interview her for myself.” He turned his attention to Josie.
“She seems to like and trust you, so I may have you sit in while I talk with her.”
A muscle in Bender’s jaw jumped.
The homicide detective glanced at her partner. “If she’ll talk with you there, you’re welcome to listen as well.” He heard the day watch officers coming down the stairs. “Let’s get going.”
After obtaining their equipment from the kit room, they loaded up their patrol vehicle, and she logged on to their car computer.
Her partner wasn’t saying a word to her, and his fast and stilted movements told her he was furious. Bender was pumping gas while she cleaned the windows.
Ferrari walked over to the pumps while they fueled their black and white. “When we get to the Conrad house, let’s play it low key. We’re just there to confirm what Chloe disclosed in her interview yesterday. Then I’ll lead up to what she asked Price regarding blackmail.”
Bender continued to scowl. “Sounds good.”
She dropped the squeegee into the bucket of water next to the gas pump. “Won’t her lawyer need to be there?”
“Not if she’s the victim of a crime,” the detective said. “If things begin to get complicated, we’ll either take her to the station and wait for the attorney, or if he’s agreeable, we’ll do video chat.”
As they followed Ferrari in his unmarked sedan, Bender unloaded on her.
“You made me look bad. In front of him, and the Devonshire supervisors, too. You want to be a glory hound, go ahead. But I’m going to document this as a failure on your part to notify your training officer of relevant information in a major case.”
“I don’t think that’s fair.”
A smug grin filled his face. “Well, too bad. When you’re on probation, you should expect nothing on this job will be fair. You’ll get the shittiest jobs and assignments, and you’re expected to like it.”
He chuckled. “You really screwed the pooch when you didn’t inform me of your chat with that rich bitch teenager.”
“There was no time. You’d changed out of your uniform, unloaded the black and white, and filled out the overtime slips. You even asked the desk officer to help me with the log. And then you left…avoiding the watch commander’s office.”
Their conversation was stalled when Ferrari turned his unmarked sedan into the circular driveway of Chloe’s house.
Bender pulled in right behind the detective. He leaned down and looked out the windshield at the impressive mansion on at least a couple of acres in front of him. “So. This is how the other half lives.”